Contents

About

The SPGL is an organization dedicated to building the middle steps of eSports: that vital area between ladder hero and pro player. Based on 4 distinct regions in ALL of North America, players can compete in various scheduled events to work their way up the competitive tiers up into a national finals. Better rankings carry over to each season where you can advance up, or drop down in ranking.

Structure

The SPGL has three different tiers for competitive play:

Open - which is just what it says and is the lowest tier

Main - This is the main tier and is the first instance of invite only. It is also the only tier where you can lose invite status

Premier - This is the top tier and the only one you can win prize money in.

Each of the 4 regions in North America represented in the SPGL have ways of advancing up and down to the next corresponding tier.
Seasons last 3 months, and rank in tier carries over from one season to the next.
The SPGL also utilizes several different types of gameplay: double elimination, Swiss, and round-robin. These styles are utilized to judge a players skill over time, as opposed to just who is HOT one day, and cold the next.

Divisions

For Season 2, currently slated to start on 20 October 2012, contains four divisions, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. These four divisions include the previous divisions that have been consolidated due to player activity.
In Season 1, there were 8 distinct divisions for the SPGL. The old divisions were as follows.

Rules

Official Semi-Pro Gaming League Rules
(These are the base rules for any SPGL event. Rules are subject to change. If there are changes or additions to the rules, they will be announced before an has started, either through the event forums or at the beginning of the event being held)

Tournaments

All participants must represent themselves and play in a region they are a current resident of. College players will use their home state as residence when selecting the region to compete in.

If a player is late by 15 minutes to a game without getting an OK from both his opponent and a tournament official, that player’s series will be forfeited.

All tournaments will be played in a Bo3 double elimination style except for 1st and 3rd place matches which will both be done as a Bo5 series.

If your games are in the lower bracket and are at least 2 rounds behind, a 5 minute break max is allowed. Anything longer without consent of an official will result in a forfeit of the series.

Extended breaks may be taken pending estimated game time and clearance from the tournament official. Players should remain close by their PC in case contact must be made.

Tournaments WILL NOT use the extended series rules. However, the 1st place match will award a 1-0 advantage to the player that remained in the upper bracket.

Maps will be chosen from the current map pool and ONLY from the current map pool when deciding play. If there is an issue in the map pool (such as maps being no longer supported), officials will make an announcement stating the change.

No map may be repeated in the same series.

Players may only compete in the tournaments which they have been signed-up for, or invited to.

No observers, other than those permitted by a tournament official, may join a tournament game as a spectator.

Players must set themselves to Busy while playing.

Streaming of tournament play is allowed unless a player is being casted. Doing so will result in a warning for the first offense, and a loss of series for the second offense. Penalties do not carry over from tournament to tournament. I strongly encourage players who stream to direct viewers to watch via the tournament stream. This is not to harm player’s income, but to help us continue to provide higher quality production, as well as support our sponsors.

In the issue of “Bad Manners” (BM): please take a screen shot of the BM and notify an official or admin only. Tournament officials will handle Bad Manner issues and the resulting consequences. Do not publicly post the incident. Advertising BM publicly may result in similar disciplinary actions.

If you have hardware or lag issues, let an official know. Rulings will be handled based on the extremity of the issue.

Players are to follow all instructions from tournament officials unless plausible reasons are given.

Race swapping is not allowed. However, players are allowed to change their main race between tournaments.

If your game is being casted, an admin will notify you. Notify the admin of your first map choice and they will create the game so that all necessary people are in the match. The admin will continue to create each game.

If a player has reason for a dispute against the rules, email drogith@nesc2league.com within 24 hours. The dispute will then be reviewed by all officials, and a vote taken. You will then be informed of the outcome. If there is any change made, it will be announced to the public

Round Robin/Swiss Style
All rules are the same as above except for the following.

All series are Bo3 regardless of when the series is played.

Round Robin series are played twice a week and must be reported on time or the series will be considered forfeit for both players.

Visual proof is needed for a player to be awarded a forfeit win. (email, screenshot, etc)

Race swapping is not allowed while taking part in either style of tournament.